Make your home earn its keep!

Posted: 02/07/2013

Yes, your home can earn you some extra cash of up to £10,000 a year according to the Independent! Check out the suggestions below on how your home can start earning its keep!

If you have any spare space in your home like a loft or garage, you can rent these spaces out as storage. If you visit websites such as storemates.co.uk and storenextdoor.com you could earn thousands of pounds a year by renting your spare space to people looking for somewhere to store their items. The prices range from £70 per month for a garage space and £120 a month for loft space and some websites will take care of the payments and legal contacts for you along with the personal liability and contents insurance for both parties. These website usually allow you to advertise your space for free and then take a percentage of the price arranged if you get a booking.

You can also rent out your garden for one off special occasions like wedding receptions or barbecues if you have a desirable garden. You can advertise your garden for rent on rentmygarden.com and the prices start from £25.

If you have a large driveway or parking space that is not being use, you could rent that out, especially if it’s near a city or an airport. You can advertise your parking space on several websites including parkatmyhouse.com, yourparkingspace.co.uk and parklet.co.uk and could potentially earn an average of £40 per week! The websites listed above will draw up a contact stating that you are no responsible for the vehicles parked outside your property nor the items left inside them. However, you will have to call your insurer to clarify any restrictions they may want to place on your policy during the rental period.

You will have to declare any money earned to HMRC so either add it to your tax return or contact your local tax office to make them aware of your extra source of income.

If you have a spare room in your property, you could earn around £4,250 a year by taking on a lodger. You can use the Governments Rent-a-Room Scheme which will help you find a lodger but if the income is any higher than the above figure you will have to pay tax on the difference. You could also advertise your spare room in colleges or local shops as well as online via websites like Gumtree.com and shareroom.co.uk but be aware that you will have to share your living space which can be a downside.

You usually have to provide a fully furnished room that complies with safety standards in your family home so you can’t rent out a self-contained flat and you will also need an annual gas safety check. You will also have to contact your contents and building insurance provider to see if you would still be covered if you had a lodger because the last thing you want to do is invalidate your policy and have to claim.

If you didn’t mind renting a room during the week but wanted the weekends to yourself, you could advertise on mondaytofriday.com which specialises in lodgers looking for somewhere to live on a weekday basis only. You could also advertise your spare room as a one bed B&B for a short term on websites like airbnb.com which allows you to list your property for free but takes a 3% commission on the bookings.

According to the Independent, the number of people lodging in the UK has doubled to almost a million last year which shows that this is a popular way to earn some cash but if you have been claiming for a single person council tax discount you will have to inform your council that you have a lodger as well as your mortgage provider.

If you have any spare equipment like power tools you can also advertise these items for free on rentmyitems.com or ecomodo.com and no commission is charged! If you are a driver and have your own car you could also make some extra cash by offering empty car seats on regular trips as well as one offs. You can advertise your spare car seat on gocarshare.com.

Perhaps you have some spare time on your hands, you could earn money by helping people with chores like DIY or gardening. People list jobs that need doing on sites such as taskhub.co.uk and they will state a price they will pay and you can bid for the job!

Have these tips inspired you to make your house earn its keep? Please let us know if you try some of these tips out and tell us how you got on!